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Cary group holds blanket drive to keep Syrian refugees warm

The local Turkish-American community has organized efforts to collect blankets to keep warm this winter more than a million Syrian refugees in Turkey.

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CARY, N.C. — The local Turkish-American community has organized efforts to collect blankets to keep warm this winter more than a million Syrian refugees in Turkey.

The Divan Center in Cary is collecting both new and used blankets and plans to ship them to Turkey, where local relief agencies will distribute them to those in need.

The center's president, Volkan Ozdemir, says homelessness is a relatively new problem in the southeastern European nation, which has seen more than 1 million refugees over the past four years because of civil war in Syria.

"It is very surprising for many of us to see homeless people on the streets needing help," Ozdemir said.

Other Turkish-American groups across the country are holding similar blanket drives. The goal is to collect 100,000 blankets.

The Divan Center is collecting blankets until noon on Nov. 22.

Blankets may be dropped off at its office, at 1903 N. Harrison Ave., Suite 100. Monetary donations, made payable to Divan Center, may be mailed to the same address.

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